


Rattus Rattus

by Theavsabs



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M, Magic exists I guess, TK is a rat
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:14:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23239795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theavsabs/pseuds/Theavsabs
Summary: '“Why on Earth does he hate me so much?” Nolan knows that the king doesn’t hate him, but it sure doesn’t feel like that when he’s being sent on a three-day journey in the pouring rain to Giroux’s farm for the summer.'Basically, Nolan is sent to work on Claude's farm for the summer and has to learn a bunch of farming things while also dealing with a new and surprisingly talkative friend.
Relationships: Travis Konecny/Nolan Patrick
Comments: 8
Kudos: 20





	1. Three Days Journey

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was requested by one of my best friends (thanks for proof reading it too) and was based off of a pic that I can not for the life of me find. I'm planning on doing at least weekly updates so y'all have that to look forward to! (I'm still a student so some chapters may be posted a bit later depending on my testing schedule:) ) Also, this is my first fic, so please be gentle with any comments. I am also completely incompetent with computers so hopefully I get the formatting right.
> 
> Also, this is rated as Mature for certain *activities* that will be happening as the fic progresses, as well as potential period specific violence. I'm not 100% certain where this whole thing will be going down the line, but that was the original intent! I hope y'all enjoy!

“Why on Earth does he hate me so much?” Nolan knows that the king doesn’t hate him, but it sure doesn’t feel like that when he’s being sent on a three-day journey in the pouring rain to Giroux’s farm for the summer. G fought for King Vigneault in the war and was granted a large piece of land for his heroics. So, naturally, G and the king were relatively close and good friends. Nolan, or Patty as everyone seemed to call him, wasn’t quite as experienced yet and didn’t have as many accolades as some of the older guys who have been with Vigneault for years. He tried his best though and always gave 110% when he was working around the kingdom and the castle. 

At this point, Nolan was relatively well known and loved by everyone he interacted with. That’s why he felt so annoyed and maybe even betrayed when he was sent to G’s farm under the pretense of “needing to understand the people better.” _I understand the people just fine,_ he thinks to himself. _The people are doing pretty well now that the war is over. We won after all. What’s there not to be happy about?_ He continues like this for the rest of the day, riding his horse along the muddy road for what seems like an eternity. And to make to make things worse, the king sent Kevin with him. “Woohoo! Road trip! Let’s fucking gooooooooooo!” Kevin yells as they leave on their journey. “Why are you coming again?” Nolan asks. “I was asked to be your personal hype man for the trip, remember?” Kevin replies. “Oh. I thought you were just here to be my overenthusiastic body guard that I definitely don’t need because I can handle myself just fine” Nolan says flatly. “Sure you can. That’s why you screamed when you saw that rat last week, right?” Kevin chirps. “Shut the fuck up,” Nolan responds, still embarrassed by the incident. “Rats used to carry the plague. I was just warning everyone to keep them safe” Patty continues. “Sure Pat. You just keep telling yourself that” Kevin says. The rest of their ride that day continues like that. Kevin getting incredibly hyped for this stupid trip and Nolan getting increasingly annoyed by both the rain and Kevin.

Eventually, they reach a small inn that Nolan supposes will do for the night. It looks nothing like his own home, which, to be fair, is currently a towering castle with marble floors, elaborate paintings, and so many gardens that you could never see all of them in a lifetime. But it probably has the basics and is actually quite cozy looking despite the dilapidated roof. When he walks up, he’s greeted by a short woman who instantly throws a blanket over his shoulders and gives him a towel to help him dry off some. The woman, who still hasn’t actually introduced herself, continues her attempt to dry Patty off for the next 15 minutes until she seems to be satisfied with her work. “Oh. Um. Thank you,” Patty manages to say after she’s done obsessing over his well-being. “Just because it’s summer, doesn’t mean that you should risk getting sick from the rain,” she says in a very affirmative tone. Before Nolan gets out another word, the woman leads him and Kevin to a room near the back of the inn and tells them to just sit and relax while someone gets their belongings. When he enters the room, Nolan is pleasantly surprised by the accommodations. There’s a fire going in the fireplace, a fresh change of clothes, and some fruit sitting in a bowl on the nightstand. All-in-all, this is not the worst thing Patty has had to deal with. Sure, the bed is a little lumpy, and yeah, there’s the occasional mouse that scurries across the floor, but this beats sleeping out in the pouring rain by a long shot. 

After having some time to change, get comfortable, and lay his soggy clothes by the fire, Patty hears a knock on the door. “I have your things!” the woman from earlier says in a much more cheerful voice than when Patty first entered the inn. “Y’all sure travel light,” she says when Nolan opens the door. “I wasn’t the one to pack the bags,” he shrugs, knowing full well that he could’ve brought more with him than what Kevin had packed for him had he not been so angry and left in such a hurry. Besides, traveling on horseback for three days with more than the essentials isn’t exactly ideal. “Let me know if you need anything while you’re here. I’m right down the hall,” the woman says before leaving Nolan to his things. He thanks her as she leaves and then sits down by the fire, wondering why she had it going in the first place. _There’s no way she could’ve known we were coming, right?_ Patty thinks to himself. He resolves himself to just asking her about it in the morning. Right now, he’s just tired.

\--  
When Patty sleeps that night, he dreams of the open fields that he’ll be surrounded by in a couple of days. He dreams about the long and arduous walk hike from the castle at the center of the city to the middle of nowhere. Part of him wants to welcome the thoughts, knowing that he has secretly been wanting some peace and quiet recently. Another part of him is still angry with the fact that he’s was sent out there in the first place. He feels, not rejected, but perhaps a little betrayed by the sudden lack of faith. His dreams continue like this for the rest of the night: sunshine and warmth, followed by feelings of rejection. When he wakes up, the dreams are instantly forgotten, leaving on the emotions that came with them.  
\--

“Well good morning sleepyhead!” the inn keeper woman says to Patty as he walks down the hall to get breakfast. Patty gives a sheepish wave and a half-hearted smile, still waking up and feeling slightly embarrassed about how late he slept in. It’s still relatively early in the morning, but Patty is usually up at the crack of dawn for his work up in the city. _The rain and the ride must’ve taken a lot more out of me yesterday than I realized,_ Patty thinks to himself. “There are some eggs and hash browns waiting for you in the kitchen,” the woman says to Patty. “Thank you,” he says as he lazily makes his way over to the kitchen and grabs himself a plate of food. He sits down at the table and slowly eats the eggs, almost as if it’s more effort than it’s worth trying to pick up the food to put it in his mouth. He’s slowly starting to wake up, but he knows it’s going to take a little bit before he’s really conscious of what’s going on.

“Hey Patty! You sure took your time getting up this morning,” a voice booms behind him. Nolan groans in response. _Why can’t I have fifteen minutes of peace and quiet?_ Nolan thinks to himself “You ready for another day of riding? Because I sure am!” the voice continues. “Sure Kev” Nolan responds as unenthusiastically as possible. Kevin sits down with Nolan and tells him about the short walk he went on that morning and about all of the random things he saw. While Kevin talks, Nolan just sits there wondering how he got stuck with him of all people as a body guard. It’s not that he doesn’t like the guy. Quite the opposite actually. The two have been good friends since they started working together. They just had very different personalities. Kevin was much louder, while Nolan was a bit quieter.

Nolan finishes his breakfast eventually, despite taking so long that it was cold by the time he was done. Now that he’s fully awake, he and Kevin make their way back to the room. They pack up the few things they have and head off to find the inn keeper woman, still not having forgotten his question from earlier.

“Hey! Just wanted to let you know that we’ll be headed out soon. How much do we owe you for the room last night?” Nolan asks, much more awake than he was this morning. “Nothing,” she responds. “What?” he’s confused. There’s no way that this woman would give him a free room and food, right? “You owe me nothing,” she repeats with a smile. “I don’t understand,” Nolan says to the woman. “The king covered it. Your stay here has already been paid for,” the woman responds. _Oh. Great. That’s like, the only good thing that has happened on this trip so far,_ Nolan thinks to himself. Nolan and Kevin thank the woman for the room, grab their horses and get back on the road.

Today’s ride was better than yesterday’s. The ground dried up, the sun came out, and there was a warm breeze that swept away the smell of cow feces that lingered in the air. Kevin was still just as loud as yesterday, but it was much easier for Nolan to deal with today. He was actually quite grateful for the distraction. Most of the morning, Patty had thought about why he was kicked out and sent away. He didn’t remember actually doing anything wrong and he never played pranks on people like many of the others he worked with did. “What’s going on in that noggin of yours Pat?” Nolan is shaken from his thoughts when Kevin practically yells in his ear from 15 feet away. “Not much. Just thinking about some stuff” Nolan responds. “Alright. Well, if you want to talk about it, I’m here to listen” Kevin responds. “Thanks Kev, but it’s really nothing.” Kevin gives him a concerned look but decides not to push it. He knows that Patty will talk when he wants to. Instead, Kevin just goes back to his usual banter. He talks very enthusiastically about all of the colorful wildflowers that they’re riding past and about how much Nolan is going to love G’s farm. 

After Kevin has talked Nolan’s ear off for the second day in a row, they finally reach a place where they can set up camp for the night. Since it was still quite warm outside, all they had to do was lay down some blankets and make a fire for some extra heat for the night. After camp was set up, Kevin managed to catch a rabbit while Nolan just stuck to tending to the fire. It was quiet between them during dinner. Kevin had finally worn himself down enough to just eat in silence and Nolan was somewhat grateful for the momentary peace. They were both exhausted after riding for two days straight and decided to go to sleep soon after the sun had set. 

\--  
As Patty slept that night, he had a dream about rats. Despite being terrified of rats (no thanks to his knowledge of the plague), he was actually quite comfortable with this one particular rat. Of course, in his dreamscape, nothing else really made any sense what-so-ever. All he knew was that when he woke up, the dream vanished, along with all of the memories and feelings that went along with it.  
\--

“Last day on the road Patty! Are you excited?!” Kevin is almost vibrating with how excited he is about getting to G’s. He hasn’t seen his friend in quite a while now, so it wasn’t all that surprising. “For once, yes, Kev. I am very excited to be done with this road trip” Nolan responds. He had woken up with a sore back only to find out that he had been sleeping on a stick the whole night. Not to mention that he was tired from riding all day.

“Let’s goooooooo” Kevin yells so loud that he spooks the horses. Knowing that Kevin’s excitement to see his friend is only going to grow throughout the day, Nolan decides that it’s worth it to leave sooner rather than later.

They pack their bags and get back on the road. Today was much like the day before. It was sunny, there were a few clouds, and a nice breeze was blowing the smell of the wild flowers across the plains. They started to enter the true countryside, seeing farms with more cows, sheep, and crops the farther they went. It was peaceful and quiet, aside from Kevin of course, but Nolan couldn’t even bring himself to be annoyed with Kevin today. He was just excited to have a place where he could unpack and maybe unwind a bit. _Maybe this will be like a vacation for me,_ he thought to himself. _I won’t have to fill out any paperwork or run around the city trying to keep the peace. Maybe this will actually be good for me._

After about half a day’s ride, they come across a farm that is almost the same as all the others, except for the little orange flag hanging outside the front door of the house, signifying that the land was a gift from the king. Kevin almost leaps off of his horse and runs to tie it up at the front of the house. Nolan, still tired from leaving so early and exhausted from three days of riding, gently slides off of his horse and ties it up on the fence post next to Kevin’s. They walk up to the door and knock. While they wait for someone to answer, they notice the smell of barbecue and cooked vegetables. Suddenly, a face peaks out around the corner of the house.

“Hi Claude!” Kevin yells so loud that Nolan almost jumps off the porch. “Hey Kevin! Long time, no see buddy! How have you been?” Claude asks, almost suffocating from the hug that Kevin gives him. “I’ve been great man! The ride out here was amazing!” Kevin told Claude all about their short journey out there, even the minor details, with so much enthusiasm that even Nolan could’ve been tricked into thinking that their journey out to the farm was actually fun. 

“This is Nolan Patrick by the way!” Kevin suddenly says to Claude. “So you’re the one that I’ve heard so much about from the king,” Claude says. Nolan freezes, unsure of what to say to that. He wonders for a split second if the king had said anything bad about him or had mentioned the reason for sending him out there. “All good things, I promise,” he adds, putting Nolan’s mind slightly at ease. “It’s nice to finally meet you,” Nolan says. “I’ve heard a lot of great things about you from some of the guys I work with and from the king,” he continues. “Feel free to call me Pat or Patty by the way. Most people do,” Nolan says. “Alright Pat! Well, on that note, you’re welcome to call me Claude, G, or Giroux. Whatever floats your boat,” Claude responds with a smile. “Now that we have introductions out of the way, how about I let you two get unpacked and settled in. Me and Ryanne will have some lunch waiting for you in the back yard when you’re ready,” G tells them.

Kevin, having been to G’s house more times than he can count, takes Nolan inside and shows him around. Claude’s house is relatively simple, but incredibly cozy. The wooden floors creak softly as Kevin takes Nolan upstairs to his new room. Kevin has his own room on the first floor that he’s been using for years and that he has just claimed as his own. There is only one room on the second floor, which Nolan will have all to himself. It doesn’t look like it has been used recently, a fine layer of dust covering almost every inch of the room, but it does look comfortable. The bed looks like a cotton bed, not a straw bed, with a soft looking pillow, there’s a desk in the corner with a few books stacked on top of it, and there are a couple of windows basking the entire room in a warm light. Nolan thinks that he’ll be quite comfortable here, even more so after he’s cleaned up the room some.

“Alright then! I’ll leave you so you can get unpacked and moved in. I’m going to head to the backyard for some food,” Kevin says excitedly. “Okay. I’ll meet you down there in a little bit,” Nolan responds. He begins unpacking his things, not that there were many of those to begin with, and starts putting away what little he does have in some of the drawers. Everything was going quite well and Nolan was finally feeling like he was getting settled. That is, until he opened the last drawer to put away his shirts.

“Oh my god what the fuck!” Nolan almost screams, jumping back and grabbing the closest sharp object he can find, which happened to be a pencil sitting on the desk. It just so happened that that last drawer had small dark-haired rat in it. “Put the pencil down, dude. You’re gonna hurt yourself. Sheesh,” a voice says. Nolan then jumps on the bed, freaking out. “Did you just-” Nolan starts, unsure of what he’s even thinking or trying to say. “Nope. You didn’t just talk. That definitely didn’t just happen. I’m just way too fucking tired from my trip and now I’m imagining being able to hear a rodent talk. Yep. That’s what it is. That’s all that this is,” Nolan tells himself. “Wait a minute-” the voice says as Nolan jumps again, this time hitting his head on the head board. “Did you just say that you could hear me talk?” the voice continues. “Oh my god this is not happening. I can’t hear rats speak. I have never been able to hear rats speak. I’ve never been able to hear animals speak in general. Actually, I don’t think _anyone_ has heard an animal speak before. What on Earth is going on?” Nolan says to himself frantically. “What a relief! I thought I was never going to be able to talk to a human ever again. Best fucking day ever,” the voice says. Nolan had curled up on the bed covering his face. He didn’t know what to think at this point. After he slows down his breathing and collects his thoughts, he uncovers his face only to see the rat sitting right in front of him. “Holy shit!” Nolan screams again, jumping back. _So, I’m definitely imagining things, but maybe I should just go along with it at this point. What harm is there in that?_ Nolan thinks to himself. 

“Are you done screaming yet? Because if not, could you kindly shut the fuck up?” the voice that Nolan assumes is the rat's says. The rat was now sitting on his bed facing him. “Uh I guess so,” Nolan says timidly. “Great! Now I can explain to you what the fuck is going on,” the rat says. “My name is Travis, but my friends call me TK.”


	2. Of Rats and Men

“Ok. So, your name is Travis, you like to be called TK, and you’re a demonic talking rat. How much stranger can my day get?” Nolan asks, feeling incredibly confused and frustrated. “I thought I told you to shut up so I could explain,” the rat says. _Maybe if I just listen to him, I’ll wake up from this fucking fever dream_ , Nolan thinks to himself. “At this point I’m all ears, TK,” Nolan finally responds, wanting to just get this over with. “Great!” TK says, hopping up onto Nolan’s pillow so he’s not at such a massive height disadvantage.

“It all started about a year ago, right after the war had ended,” Travis says. “I was traveling back from the battlefront after we had won and I guess there was some lady that I had really pissed off? I don’t fucking know. She just started screaming stuff at me and I tried being polite, but then I passed out. And now here I am: a small rat. As if I wasn’t already fun sized,” TK says, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, G was my captain and saw the whole thing go down and decided to take me in. No one else aside from him and Ryanne know of my little situation,” he says with a shrug. “Oh. Okay… What the fuck?” Nolan says, still incredibly confused. “Let me get this straight. You’re telling me that you’re a human that has been turned into a fucking demonic rat that has been living on this farm for about a year and no one, not even G, thought to mention this to me before now?!” Nolan says. “Yep!” TK replies. _What the actual fuck is my life,_ Nolan thinks to himself.

“Well, I’ve already told you about myself, now you go” TK says. _This is so ridiculous. I’m talking to a fucking rat,_ Patty thinks to himself. “Um okay,” he starts. “Hi, my name is Nolan, my friends tend to call me Pat or Patty-” “Heh. Patty,” TK snorts. “Shut up. You had your chance,” Nolan argues. “Great. Now I’m arguing with a fucking rat,” he mumbles. “Um. There’s no fucking going on here bud. I’m just a rat sitting on the edge of your bed trying to get to know you better. We haven’t gotten that far in our relationship-” “Oh my god shut up for like, two seconds,” Nolan groans. “Sorry bud. I just haven’t been able to have a conversation with someone in about a year. It’s nice that someone can finally hear me,” TK says, sounding both excited and apologetic.

“Wait. You mean to tell me that I’m the _only_ person that can understand you?!” Nolan says, taken aback. “Uh, yes?” TK responds. “Now can you finish up with your introduction? G’s got some great food that he’s cooking up for lunch today,” TK tells him. Nolan is dumbfounded but goes on to tell TK about his position at the castle and the reason for his trip down to the farm. “Hold up. The king kicked you out?” TK asks. “No,” Nolan responds. “He sent me down here to learn a few things and I’m assuming I am supposed to return at the end of Summer,” Nolan continues. “Oh. So, he kicked you out,” TK says matter-of-factly. “Yeah. Sure. Whatever,” Nolan sighs and leans back on the bed, too tired to argue.

“Alright. Well, I am fucking hungry and you look like you could use a good meal. How about we go meet G downstairs?” TK says. “I think that that’s the first logical thing that you’ve said since you’ve started talking,” Nolan replies. Eager to get some food, Nolan stands up and starts walking toward the door. After walking about two steps, he realizes that TK isn’t scurrying along the floor next to him. He turns around and sees TK sitting up and staring at him. “What? Do you want a ride or something?” Patty asks him. TK looks at him excitedly and responds, “Well, since you’re offering, I guess that would be nice.” Nolan rolls his eyes and puts his hand out. “Alright. Hop on,” he tells TK. He runs up Nolan’s arm and sits on his shoulder. It’s only then that Nolan remembers the reason he dislikes rats so much. _But TK isn’t_ really _a rat, right? Just a guy that was turned into one. I just hope he has better hygiene than a normal rat,_ Nolan thinks to himself. 

“So just to be clear, G isn’t going to totally freak out when he sees that I have a rat on my shoulder, right?” Nolan says, slightly concerned about how this is going to look. “Nope,” TK responds. “Although Kevin might. I don’t think he knows who I am yet,” TK says in an almost mischievous tone. “Oh god. Please don’t do something that you’re going to regret,” Nolan says, shaking his head. “What makes you think I’ll regret it?” TK responds. 

Nolan tries to appear very nonchalant about the fact that there’s a rat on his shoulder as he makes his way outside and over to where G, Ryanne, and Kevin are sitting. Kevin and G are very deep in conversation when Patty walks up and hardly even notice him sit down across from them. Ryanne, on the other hand, gives Nolan and TK a knowing look as she grabs them some food. Apparently, this is not the first time that TK has pulled some sort of stunt like this on a guest.

“Get their attention,” TK whispers to Nolan. At that moment, Nolan wonders what this sounds like to everyone else. Is it just a squeaking sound? Do they hear anything at all? Those are questions that he’ll have to answer another time.

“Hi guys,” Nolan says shortly after he has sat down. G looks over and gives a surprised look, but then smirks and shakes his head. “Hey Nolan. I take it unpacking went well?” Claude asks him. “Oh yeah! I managed to get everything put away somewhere and only managed to run into one little pest!” Nolan responds. Claude laughs some, which gets Kevin’s attention off of his food for a few seconds and onto Nolan. “What kind of pest did you run into?” Kevin asks innocently. At this point, TK had already left Nolan’s shoulder and run over to where Kevin’s plate was sitting. “That one,” Nolan says, pointing to the little rat stealing food off of Kevin’s plate. “What the fuck!” Kevin yells so loud that all of the birds in a nearby tree scatter. Nolan lets out a small chuckle while Claude and Ryanne burst out laughing as Kevin scrambles to get the rat away from his food. 

“What the fuck is going on here?!” Kevin yells, still confused and surprised by the sudden extra guest. “Sorry that I never mentioned him to you before Kev. That’s Travis. He doesn’t normally come out and mess with people. I’m actually really surprised that he came out here with _two_ new people here,” Claude explains. “I guess he likes you both,” he continues. “That still doesn’t explain why Nolan isn’t screaming right now. He’s terrified of rats because they carried the plague or something? I don’t really know what he’s talking about, but he’s only a little bit smarter than I am,” Kevin says. Claude just laughs and they all continue eating their lunch.

After they finish eating, Nolan walks back up to his room to take a short nap, TK riding up there on his shoulder. “The stairs are too steep for me,” he says. “Oh please. I saw you jump up onto the bed earlier like it was nothing,” Nolan shoots back laughing. 

When they reach the room, Nolan shuts the door and pulls the curtains over the windows. He’s completely exhausted but he can’t seem to sleep when there’s a lot of light flooding the room. He sits down on the bed and slides his boots off before laying down and closing his eyes. Just before he falls asleep, he hears a small voice coming from the nightstand next to his bed. 

“Sorry, what was that?” Nolan asks, knowing that the voice belonged to TK. “I said sorry,” TK says again, softly. He’s sitting on the nightstand and facing away from Nolan. Confused, Nolan asks, “Sorry for what?” “I’m sorry that I scared you earlier. I… I didn’t know that you were scared of rats. Otherwise, I might not have kept pushing you earlier. I thought that you were just surprised that you could hear me. I mean, I’m surprised by that too, but still I-” TK pauses and turns around to see Nolan looking at him and giving him a soft smile. “Don’t worry about it,” Nolan responds. “You didn’t know. That’s not your fault. Besides, for some reason, I actually feel kind of comfortable around you. Maybe it’s because you aren’t really a rat, or maybe it’s for some other random reason. Whatever the case, you can consider me a friend now,” Nolan tells him. Tk just stares at Nolan, eyes wide in surprise. “Thank you,” he says to Nolan. Nolan doesn’t know what to say at this point so he just scoops TK up and hugs him. He sets TK down on the bed next to his pillow, closes his eyes, and goes to sleep.

\--  
Nolan’s dreams are riddled with confusion and fear. He sees bright flashes of light, a forest on fire, and townspeople running for their lives from some unknown but terrifying being. He’s angry, but he isn’t sure why. All he knows is that, for whatever reason, he would fight to the death for whatever or whoever it was that was standing right behind him.  
\--

Nolan wakes up with a start and feels a sharp pain in his shoulder. “Thank god!” he hears TK say. His voice sounds worried. “You okay there bud?” TK asks him. “Uh yeah,” Nolan groans. “I think so.” Once again, Nolan has forgotten his dream at this point, but this time, the feelings linger. His sheets are soaked with his sweat and he’s still a little shaky from the nightmare.

At this point, Nolan is sitting up. “I don’t know what was going on in that pretty head of yours but it didn’t seem like a field full of butterflies,” TK tells him. “It most definitely was not,” Nolan responds. “Ugh! I wish I could remember some of these stupid dreams,” he adds. “Did I say anything weird while I was asleep?” he asks TK. “Uhhhh you said something about a big fire but I was mostly concerned with waking you up from whatever hellscape you were trapped in,” TK responds. “Okay. Thanks, Teeks,” Nolan responded, and they dropped the conversation. 

The rest of the day is quite lazy for the entire household. G had gotten all of the farm work done that morning, but he told Nolan and Kevin that he would need much more help in the next few weeks with taking care of things. Nolan, being the pushover that he is on occasion, volunteered to help out since he was staying there anyway. Kevin followed his lead, saying that he was happy to do some heavy lifting to stay in shape. “Plus, I need to make sure Mr. Grumpy doesn’t hurt himself,” Kevin adds. Nolan just huffs in response. Apparently, their first day was going to start bright and early the next morning.

After eating dinner and helping clean some things up around the house, Nolan decided he should probably go to bed early that night. When he’s back in his room, he starts getting changed into his pajamas, which are really just a thin shirt and some thin, loose pants, when he notices something scurry across the floor of his room.

“Great! So, you’re a demonic talking rat that also watches people changing clothes! Is there no such thing as privacy anymore?” Nolan asks. “Actually, I was tired and wanted to go to sleep in my drawer but was underneath the bed and was trying not to make it weird. But it looks like you did that all on your own bud,” TK laughs. “Fuck off. Either way, you could’ve just waited a minute or two for me to, you know, not be half naked,” Nolan counters. “Wait a minute,” Nolan continues, “Did you just say that you sleep in a drawer?” he asks. TK responds, “Yeah. What about it? It’s cozy. Not as good as a bed, but a bed that size is way too big and just feels weird when you’re by yourself.” “Oh,” Nolan responds softly, unsure of what else to say to that. Nolan then gets in bed and goes to sleep, for once not having any dreams at all. Just blissful peace and quiet.

Waking up the next morning was not quite so peaceful. “Time to get up Patty!” Kevin screams in Nolan’s doorway. He’s banging pots and pans together and hollering like he’s cheering at a jousting tournament. The sun still hasn’t risen and all Patty can think about is how horrible the day is going to go if this is the way it’s starting. “Alright alright! I’m up Kevin. I’ll meet you downstairs in a few minutes,” Nolan groans. “Alright! See you in a few minutes Pat!” he practically yells. Before he goes, he adds, “By the way, if you’re not downstairs in fifteen minutes, I’m going to come back up here with more pans and a bucket of water.” Nolan just groans and rolls over, covering his head with his pillow.

After trying to squeeze in thirty more seconds of sleep, Nolan hears something skitter across the floor. He’s too tired to register what it is and just tries to block it out. Then he feels something small, almost needle-like, thing grabbing onto his sleeve, followed by a small weight pressing down on his back. Whatever is on his back is kind of warm and he doesn’t really want it to move. As soon as Nolan starts feeling comfortable with the new sensation, he hears a groan of annoyance followed by a soft, “Fine. I guess we’ll do this the hard way.” Suddenly, there’s a sharp pain in his shoulder, “Ow! What the hell?” Nolan screams, instantly propping himself up and rubbing his shoulder. “Did you just fucking bite me?” Nolan almost yells before remembering that everyone downstairs could probably here him screaming. TK jumps off of Nolan’s shoulder and lands softly on the bed. “Sorry bud, but I was not about to listen to Kevin screaming and hollering and banging things again this early in the morning,” TK says. “You could’ve done literally anything else to wake me up, you know,” Nolan responds. “Yeah, but I’m tired and want to go back to sleep. I don’t want to be woken up again by Kevin,” TK says. “Plus, this was more fun,” TK adds.

“Well, you definitely could have woken me up any number of ways, regardless of how effective it would’ve been,” Nolan tells TK. “But I’ll let this slide under one condition,” Nolan continues. “And what’s that?” TK asks. “You have to help me out on the farm today,” Nolan says authoritatively. “But I want to sleep,” TK argues. “You just fucking bit me. Do you really think that I’m just going to let you sleep after that?” Nolan complains. “A rat can dream, I guess,” TK responds. “Alright fine. But I’m not exactly sure how I’ll be able to help,” TK groans out.

Nolan quickly gets dressed and heads downstairs to eat breakfast, TK sitting on his shoulder. “Good morning, Nolan,” Claude greets him as he walks into the kitchen. “I see Travis decided to join you this morning, Nolan,” he continues while cooking some eggs. “Oh. Uh, yeah. I guess he was in the mood for a little bit of work today,” Nolan says, almost forgetting that TK was sitting on his shoulder. “I didn’t want to do this, I was _forced_ into doing this,” TK yells. Of course, Claude and the others sitting at the table don’t hear anything aside from a small squeaking sound. So, when Nolan turns his head towards TK and quietly says, “I wouldn’t have forced you if you hadn’t bit me this morning,” he receives confused and slightly concerned looks from all of them. All of them except for Claude, actually, who seems to be looking at Nolan and TK with wonder more than anything else.

None of them say anything about the weird exchange though and they all just continue eating their eggs. It was almost completely quiet except for Kevin’s occasional remark about how good the eggs are and how excited he is to learn about the farm.

At some point during breakfast, TK jumps off of Nolan’s shoulder and goes outside, claiming that he’s tired and wants to squeeze in a few more minutes of sleep before they start working. Apparently, TK has a napping spot out there and said that Claude should know where to get him when they’re ready to start the day’s work. 

After they have finished breakfast, Claude pulls Nolan aside into the hallway, out of earshot of Kevin and Ryanne. “I don’t know how you managed to get Travis up this early or how on Earth you convinced him to help out with some of the work. He’s only ever been interested in going fishing with me if I’m being completely honest,” Claude tells him. “Oh. Um. So, why are you telling me this exactly?” Nolan asks, still too tired to really comprehend this conversation. “Just thought you might want know,” Claude smiles at him but Nolan really just isn’t getting it. _I’ll try and figure all of this out later,_ Nolan thinks to himself. And with that, Nolan goes outside to start his first day of working on the farm.


	3. Farmers Only Dot Com

The first thing Nolan notices when he steps outside for his first day of farm work is the humidity. It’s early in the morning so the air is cool, but that leaves a thick layer of fog over the whole farm. Most people might describe the scene as a little eerie, but Nolan likes how peaceful and quiet it is. His boots start to get a little wet from the dew that lingers on the grass, but he doesn’t really mind. He knows it will dry up quickly when the sun comes up. 

“Travis is probably hiding out in the barn right now,” Claude tells Nolan. “There’s a feed room to your right as soon as you walk in. He’s got a little hammock in there in one of the corners,” Claude continues. Nolan thanks Claude and heads straight to the barn. Just before he’s about to enter, Claude adds one more thing, “Just so you know, waking Travis up from a nap might be the most dangerous thing you do all day. Meet me by the cow pasture when you’ve got him up. Good luck!” And with that, Nolan ventures into the barn, wondering what on Earth he just got himself into.

Nolan walks into the barn and takes a quick look around. It’s not very big and seems like it really only holds the essentials. He can see the ladder up to hayloft and is almost tempted to climb it just out of curiosity, but then remembers that he has to work and that he promised he would have a certain little rat helping him out. 

Nolan stops nosing around for a minute and goes into the feed room. It’s stacked high with bags of grain, oats, and bran, while the floor is littered with little pieces of the food. After looking around for about three seconds, he sees the small makeshift hammock that TK has set up. It’s nothing fancy, just a piece of a burlap sack that strung up between two nails. It does look rather comfortable though, especially with the way that TK is sleeping in it so peacefully. _Dang it,_ Nolan thinks to himself, _This is like waking up a sleeping puppy._ He almost doesn’t want to do it until he remembers how TK bit him this morning. _Time for a little payback,_ Nolan thinks to himself.

He doesn’t do anything mean necessarily to wake TK up. He could’ve pinched him or dumped a bucket of freezing cold water on him but he decides against both of those. Instead, he just taps him lightly. Apparently, that was still the wrong thing to do. The second TK wakes up, he bites Nolan’s finger and starts scratching and clawing at him. TK’s claws dig into the skin on Nolan’s hand, but for some reason, he just keeps his hand there. TK almost looks feral and Nolan wonders for a second if he even has the right rat. That thought goes away though as soon as TK actually opens his eyes. “Good morning sleepy head,” Nolan says in a sweet tone. There’s a hint of sarcasm in his voice, but it’s mostly that of amusement. 

“Are you trying to ruin my fucking morning twice in one day?” TK spits out. “Yep,” Nolan responds with a small smile. Then he scoops TK up and puts him on his shoulder. “Time for work, whether you like it or not,” Nolan tells him as he starts making his way towards the cows. “You do understand that I _don’t_ have to help you, right?” TK says almost bitterly. “I understand that,” Nolan responds calmly, “But I’m pretty sure you’ll help anyways.” “Whatever. I’m going back to my fucking dream world. It had a much nicer version of you in it,” TK tells him before curling up on Nolan’s shoulder. “Awe so you _do_ think of me,” Nolan says, batting his eyelashes at TK. “Do you _want_ me to bite you again?” TK challenges, getting up from his comfortable position just to glare at Nolan and bare his teeth. Nolan just keeps his gaze forward and lets out a small laugh. TK then lets out a sigh, curls back up on Nolan’s shoulder, and goes back to sleep.

Well, TK had _tried_ to go to sleep. He’s woken up quite rudely by a massive cow mooing in his ears. He practically jumps off of Nolan’s shoulder but Nolan has a hand keeping him in place so he doesn’t fall off. “You ever milked a cow before?” Claude asks Nolan. “Nope,” he responds. “Great!” Claude says, “Now you get to learn!” Claude grabs a bucket and quickly teaches Nolan how it’s done. At first, he was a little intimidated. Cows are huge and he definitely is not trying to get stepped on or crushed by those things. After confirming that this cow was particularly docile, he decides he’ll give it a shot. 

“Uhhhh there’s nothing coming out,” Nolan says after trying for a solid two minutes to milk the cow. “You’ll get it! Just keep trying,” Claude responds while milking one of the other cows. Nolan goes back to attempting to milk his cow for another two minutes before he just sits back and lets out a sigh of defeat. “Well, you won’t be getting any milk out if you aren’t even going to try.” Nolan practically jumps straight into the cow when he hears the small voice next to his ear. “Fuck bud. Did you forget about me already?” TK says innocently. “You were literally so fucking quiet this whole time that yes, I did forget that you were there. Not my fault that you’re normally much more talkative than this,” Nolan angrily whispers back. Claude still doesn’t know that Nolan can actually hear TK but he’s not about to find out right now.

“What do you mean I’m ‘normally much more talkative’? You’ve known me for a single day,” TK says, feigning hurt in his voice. “And in one day, you have successfully managed to talk my fucking ears off,” Nolan responds. “Well, Patty, I _was_ going to give you some help with milking this cow, but right now it sounds like you don’t want it,” TK says while getting ready to jump off of Nolan’s shoulder. “Ugh fine!” Nolan responds with a hint of exasperation. “What do I need to do?” he asks. “Great!” TK replies. “First thing we need to do is find a blindfold!” TK says way too enthusiastically for Nolan’s comfort. “This isn’t going to end well for me is it,” Nolan mumbles to himself while TK runs to find some cloth. “Nonsense!” TK replies, already about fifteen feet away. “You’ll get it on the first try with my help!” he continues. That doesn’t put Nolan’s mind at ease.

After about five minutes, TK returns with a small cloth that looks like it has been laying in the dirt for the last 2 years. “Got one for you, bud!” TK says, bouncing with excitement. “Great. This is going to be a disaster,” Nolan eyes TK suspiciously. “Whatever. Let’s do it,” Nolan says. He beats some of the dirt off of the cloth and then ties it around his head. “I was already a little nervous around cows when I _could_ see them, and now I’m going to be milking one blind. Fantastic,” Nolan says, just ready to get this over with. 

TK jumps back up onto Nolan and takes his normal place on his shoulder. _He is way too excited about this_ , Nolan thinks to himself. He sits down next to the cow and slides the blindfold over his eyes. “Okay. I’m ready… I guess. What do you want me to do?” Nolan asks, sounding much calmer than he felt. “Put your hand on her utter,” TK instructs. Nolan has to feel around the cow’s stomach for a few seconds before he finally finds it. “Great! Step one is complete!” TK continues while Nolan just lets out a slightly annoyed huff. “Now put your hands the same way you had them before and I’ll go down and move them a bit for maximum milking power,” he says as he scurries down Nolan’s arm. “Maximum milking power?” Nolan mumbles to himself. TK adjusts Nolan’s hand slightly while Nolan just sits there incredibly confused by what’s happening. “Okay,” TK finally says. “Now you just have to squeeze.” “Is my hand not angling this thing towards myself?” Nolan questions quickly. “Not as much as you think. It just feels that way because you’re blindfolded. I promise you’ll get something out,” TK says, almost a little too happy. Nolan does what he says and- “Agh! What the hell man! I asked for your help not for a milk shower!” Nolan yells at TK, ripping off the blindfold. Meanwhile, TK is laughing hysterically on the ground next to Nolan’s boot. “I can’t believe you actually fell for that!” TK can hardly breathe with how much he’s laughing at Nolan. “You’re a fucking lying rat too! You know, I was really hoping I could trust you, Teeks, but I guess not,” Nolan says while wiping the milk off of his face. He can only keep a straight face for about three seconds though before TK’s infectious laughter gets him going too.

After they settle down, Nolan gets back to work and finishes up with the other cows he has to milk. It takes up a decent portion of the morning, but the work goes by quickly with TK there to tell him stories and jokes and just make fun of him in general. On occasion, TK actually gives Nolan some useful advice, but Nolan gets the hang of it quickly enough.

“Are you boys ready for some lunch?” Claude asks them after they finish up. “I’m starving,” Nolan says, his stomach grumbling in response. “Great! Ryanne made some food for us with some of our leftovers. I hope that’s okay,” Claude says. “That sounds great!” Nolan replies.

Nolan grabs some of the meat, bread, and vegetables that Ryanne had heated up for them and gets a little extra for TK. Claude had some business to attend to so he grabbed some food and headed straight for his office, leaving Nolan and TK by themselves. Despite being alone for lunch, they decided to eat out of earshot of the house just in case Kevin decided to eavesdrop. The last thing Nolan needed was for Kevin to know that Nolan could hear TK. It wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, but he didn’t really feel like having to explain that to an extremely curious and enthusiastic Kevin when he’s already exhausted. 

TK and Nolan find a nice spot to sit underneath a tree in the backyard. Nolan leans back against the tree, sets the plate in his lap, and closes his eyes. He has approximately five and a half seconds to enjoy the quiet afternoon before TK breaks the silence. “So,” he says as he makes his way from Nolan’s shoulder down to the plate on his lap. “How was your first morning of farm work?” TK asks, sounding genuinely curious. “There really is no such thing as peace and quiet when you’re around, huh,” Nolan responds, his lips curling into the faintest of smiles. “Nope. And that didn’t answer my question,” TK continues. “It was good,” Nolan responds, picking up a piece of food. “Are you taking a nap, bud? Why the fuck are your eyes still closed?” TK asks. Nolan just lets out a tired sigh in response. “It’s called relaxing,” he says. “Okay but why are you eating with your eyes closed?” TK asks. “Because I can,” Nolan responds, sounding slightly exasperated, but not quite annoyed. “Alright. Relaxation is over bud. I’m bored,” TK says in response. “Your brain seriously never stops for more than five seconds, does it,” Nolan says, sitting up slightly and realizing that he’ll just have to relax when he goes to sleep later that night. “Well, you got that right,” TK replies before starting a whole new conversation that mostly consists of him just rambling about random things.

 _He’s almost as bad as Kevin, minus the fact that he’s not borderline yelling whenever he talks_ , Nolan thinks to himself. “So,” Nolan says when it seems like the endless stream of TK’s nonsense story seems to be over, “How did you know how to milk a cow?” he asks. TK is almost surprised by the fact that Nolan actually spoke _and_ asked him a question, rather than just giving him a one-word response. “I grew up on a farm,” TK replies. “We didn’t actually have cows on the farm, but when you live in a rural area like that, you learn how to milk them eventually.” Nolan had grown up in the city. Sure, he had ventured out to the countryside every once in a while, but he mostly grew up surrounded by bustling streets and large marketplaces that were filled with goods that had already been prepared or made by someone.

“Do you go back often?” Nolan asks. “I used to,” TK responds, sounding a little sad. “Of course, the fact that I’m a rat makes it a little more challenging these days,” he continues. “G has offered to take me a couple of times but I’m not really sure I want to face my family like this. They might be just a little bit surprised that I’m, you know, not a human… not to mention, they wouldn’t be able to understand me,” TK lets out a hollow laugh. “So does your family not know then?” Nolan asks him, his attention suddenly focused entirely on the small rodent on his lap. “Nope,” TK says. “Claude wrote them a couple of letters letting them know that I was okay and was just ‘recovering from my injuries’ and ‘doing some work for the castle’ or something like that. So at least they known I’m not dead,” he says. “I’m sorry you have to deal with that,” Nolan says quietly. “Eh. It could be worse,” TK says. “I could have been kicked out of the castle and the city and forced to work at some random person’s farm for the entire Summer with incredibly vague instructions as to what the exact purpose of my visit down to the middle of buttfuck nowhere was.” “Hey!” Nolan says accusingly, finally catching on. “We’ve been over this. I was not _kicked out_ , I was just sent to learn some shit for the king,” he argues. “When you go to school,” TK says, “Do your teachers say, ‘Hi, class! Today you’re going to learn some shit about math!’ and then give you absolutely no instruction? No. Or at least, I hope they don’t. I actually skipped most of my classes growing up, but that seems like a pretty shitty way to teach” he continues. “Why am I not surprised that you skipped a good amount of school?” Nolan asks. “Because you realized early on that I’m a genius and don’t need it,” TK throws back at him. “You just keep telling yourself that,” Nolan replies. They talk about school for a little while longer before Claude comes out looking for them. Apparently, it’s time to finish the day’s work. 

The second half of the workday is supposedly a little easier according to Claude. “It’s more manual labor,” he says, “But this time you don’t have to learn a new skill. Plus, you’ve got Kevin helping you too!” Claude continues. “So, what exactly am I doing?” Nolan asks, a little apprehensive. “Cleaning out the goat pen!” Claude says, as if it’s one of the most exciting things that will happen to Nolan all day. _Okay. I guess that’s not the worst thing I could be doing_ , Nolan thinks to himself. He shrugs, “Sounds good to me.”

Kevin is already headed over to the goat pen with a wheelbarrow and a couple of shovels. “There’s a pile on the edge of the property where we put all of the poop and old hay so we can turn it into compost. Kevin already volunteered to take it over there,” Claude tells them. “Gotta stay in shape somehow,” Kevin says a little too enthusiastically. “Oh, and watch out for Sidney and Geno,” Claude adds. “You’ll figure out who they are quickly enough,” Claude says before heading off to do some work on the barn. “Sidney and Geno?” Nolan looks questioningly at TK while Kevin walks over to where he left the shovels. “Don’t look at me like I know something,” TK says quickly. “I’ve only been over here a couple times, bud. I didn’t even know these things had names,” he sounds just as confused as Nolan. 

Kevin brings Nolan a shovel and they quickly get to work making a large pile of hay and feces in the corner of the pen near where the wheelbarrow is sitting. They were only working for about five minutes before Nolan sees a slightly terrified Kevin yelling and running straight for the fence. “What the hell is wrong with these goats?!” Kevin yells while jumping over the fence. Nolan still has no idea what’s going on until he sees a large goat with dark brown hair and massive horns charging the fence where Kevin had just hopped over. “There are about 25 goats in this pen, Kevin. And you somehow managed to piss off the biggest one,” Nolan says, rolling his eyes. “I was just minding my own business!” Kevin says, still trying to catch his breath a little. “What did I do wrong?” he says to himself. “Maybe he just stinks or something,” says the little voice on Nolan’s shoulder. “I think we stink more,” Nolan says, continuing to shovel some of the old hay. 

After another fifteen minutes, the goat that charged Kevin loses interest and Kevin gets back to work in the pen. He keeps a close eye on the goat for the rest of the time he’s working though, and practically freezes every time the goat so much as glances in his direction. “Just because you stop moving doesn’t mean they aren’t going to attack you, Kevin,” Nolan says after Kevin freezes for the sixth or seventh time. “And actually,” Nolan continues, “that one seems to have taken a liking to you.” “What are you talking about?” Kevin asks. Nolan rolls his eyes and says, “Are you just completely oblivious to the goat chewing on your shirt right now? Or are you perfectly content having a massive hole ripped in it?” “What is wrong with these fucking goats?!” Kevin yells, startling half of the goats and angering the one that was chewing on his shirt. Suddenly, the large goat pops into view. “This isn’t going to end well for him, is it?” TK says. And as soon as TK finishes that sentence, the goat charges Kevin for the second time that day. “I guess those two are buddies, huh,” Kevin says breathlessly after somehow outpacing the goat yet again for the fence. 

After successfully evading a fight with the goats, Kevin decides he’s just going to fill up the wheelbarrow and dump it, claiming that he can’t ‘properly protect Nolan if he’s injured by a deranged goat.’ That just leaves Nolan to clean out the rest of the pen by himself, since TK can’t really do much of anything here except for talk Nolan’s ear off, make jokes, and make fun of the goats. Eventually, they’re able to finish up the goat pen without any other problems. Nolan makes a mental note to ask about those horrible goats later though. “How the fuck can a goat even have a death glare? That’s just not right,” Nolan says to TK as they walk back to the house.

“I see you all managed to make it through unscathed,” Claude says when they return. “Physically, yes. Mentally… I think Kevin might be scarred for life,” Nolan replies. “So he’s told me,” Claude laughs. “How’d the new recruit do today?” he continues. “Who, TK?” Nolan responds, “He was pretty useless- Ow! Again with the biting?” “I helped you a bunch today!” TK argues. “You’ve also bitten me a bunch today,” Nolan responds. “You’re not even bleeding so I would hardly even call these ‘bites’” TK says defensively. “That doesn’t necessarily help your case Teeks,” Nolan argues. Suddenly they realize that Claude is just staring at them, not even questioning the fact that the two of them are having a conversation that Claude can only hear half of.

“So Travis finally has someone to talk to,” Claude says after a slightly awkward amount of time. It looks like he wants to ask Nolan a question but instead just says, “Good luck with that. Dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes,” and he leaves to finish making dinner. “Everybody really just has it out for me today, don’t they?” TK says. “At least I wasn’t attacked by a crazed goat I guess,” he continues, earning a small laugh from Nolan.


End file.
